‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Boss Says TV Hurt By Shorter Seasons, Shows Now Feel Like “Tinder Relationships”
In the opinion of Star Trek : Voyager showrunner Brannon Braga, a major reason behind the once-beloved franchise’s recent ‘lack of magic’ is the fact its TV output has significantly cut back on their total number of ‘episodes per season’, which while more cost-effective has the unfortunate side-effect of making it near impossible for anyone to care about investing their time and attentions into a given show.
Braga, whose other franchise writing credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Enterprise (which he also co-created), offered his thoughts on the current state of Star Trek TV during the second of the recent Star Trek Las Vegas ‘Trek to Vegas‘ convention’s two Voyager 30th anniversary cast reunion panels, as attended by himself, Kate Mulgrew, Ethan Phillips, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Garret Wang McNeill.
As recapped by TrekMovie.com, in answering a fan question for any updates regarding each panel guest’s recent “passion projects”, Mulgrew spoke to her work on Apple TV+’s Dope Thief, therein admitting that she was at a loss as to how the despite the series pulling in rave and an Emmy nomination for her co-star Bryan Tyree Henry, it made almost no impact with general audiences.
Turning to Braga, Mulgrew asked her former showrunner if he had any idea why some TV shows “fall under the radar”, to which he theorized that the problem may be that there’s just “too much content” for audiences to realistically give their attentions to.
To this end, Braga argued that the solution to this problem would be for the general TV landscape to reverse course and return to lengthier seasonal episode counts – and in keeping his argument relevant to his audience, he elaborated on his point through the lens of modern day Star Trek:
“I look at this [panel] audience, and I think you’re here because you had a long-term relationship with Voyager. Voyager was 26 episodes a year. Some of you probably keep it on because it’s cozy and that’s the kind of relationship you had. A lot of shows now are Tinder relationships—eight episodes every two years, I don’t think so. That’s not going to be something you necessarily pass on to your kids.
“And I think that’s a loss… It’s a new paradigm. And some shows are still doing it… NCIS does like 22. But I really don’t know what’s in store for the future of Star Trek, the TV franchise anyway, but I hope, I hope that eventually they get back to a longer, more sustained season.
“It’s hard to make big TV shows. It’s complicated. Then again, how did we do 26 episodes [on Voyager]? It’s like a miracle.”
And before fans of The Orville rightfully bring up the Seth MacFarlane-led series’ spotty release schedule, Braga did cop to the fact that the titular spaceship only flies “every few years”, ultimately admitting, “I should talk.”
From there speaking to the show’s current status, particularly light in the lack of either a renewal or cancellation notice from Hulu in the three-years since Season 3 debuted, Braga told fans, “Seth and I have been noodling a Season 4 for The Orville, but that has yet to actually become official.”
“But it’s still very much alive in our imaginations,” he added. “Hopefully it will happen.”
